An overview of our proposed projects for 2004-2005:

The Cyberspace Gallery, Museum,
Library

(CLICK HERE to see what is
coming to this site) Open to everyone with a computer and access to
the Internet, this web site will offer the most up to date
information, AIDS research, articles and books about sex work world
wide, such as the study conducted by Drs. Marina Barnard and Neil
McKeganey on prostitutes in Scotland, and Dr. Janet Lever's work with
the RAND corporation study on prostitutes in Los Angeles.

Additionally, it will feature the art and poetry by sex workers,
past and present, as well as short video interviews with sex workers,
academics and law enforcement officers worldwide. This site will
undoubtedly prove to be a vital resource center for those conducting
research, writing reports or theses on this important social
issue.

Summer 2005 Cyberspace on-line interactive course

"Prostitution - the Myths and Realities"

(CLICK HERE for details) Available through Cal Poly, Pomona, this pilot course will be taught by Professor Laurie Shrage and Norma Jean Almodovar, and will feature a series of guest lecturers from around the world such as Dr. John Lowman, Simon Fraser Institute of Criminology, Canada, Dr. Fran Shaver, Canada, Dr. Jan Visser, The Netherlands, Xaviera Hollander (the Happy Hooker), John Fleischman - Department of Justice, Canada, and many others. This is the first Internet course to be offered of this type and will serve as the prototype for many other courses offered through ISWFACE in conjunction with universities and colleges internationally.

The North American Version of "Making
Sex Work Safe"

(CLICK HERE for more details)
This valuable resource book compiled by Cheryl Overs and Paolo Longo
of the Network of Sex Work Projects, is now available for health
service providers and outreach programs which work with prostitutes
around the world. The international version was sponsored in part by
the Elton John AIDS Foundation, based in London, and published by
AHRTAG (Appropriate Health Resources and Technologies Action Group)
an NGO also based in London. A South American Version is being
compiled by Paolo Longo in Brazil and it is our goal to publish a
version for North American (U.S. and Canada) in conjunction with the
Canadian sex worker organization.

The International Resource Directory on
Prostitution

(CLICK HERE for full details) This
book, CD and on-line service will be an international directory of
all current and previous research (back 25 years) on prostitution, a
bibliography of books and articles on prostitution written by
academics, researchers, and sex workers, as well as a listing of all
sex work activists/advocacy organizations, and health and information
organizations/service providers to prostitutes. The directory will
contain a short biography of the individual activists, activist
organizations and other groups from around the world who work with or
write about prostitute related issues. It will also contain a very
short synopsis of each study, who participated in the study, who
funded the research, who published the results and how the study can
be accessed. Also listed will be a phone/fax number, mailing and
Internet addresses and a contact name for organizations.

There are anti-prostitution groups and pro-decriminalization
groups, people with widely varying opinions and positions on the
issue. All of them will be included in the directory with a notation
of their philosophical position on prostitution for easier
reference.

Additionally, the directory will contain a quick reference chart
to state by state and country comparison of the laws regulating
prostitution, penalties where it is illegal, how the laws are
applied, and if services are available to prostitutes. A more
detailed explanation of the laws and penalties will accompany the
sections which list sex worker organizations and service providers
for each state/country.

No other book like this currently exists. From South Africa to
Moscow, New Zealand to Nova Scotia, prostitution research is an
ongoing phenomenon, and yet researchers in many countries seem
unaware of other researchers doing identical or similar studies. Many
times the wheel is reinvented because on current directory exists of
the studies that have been conducted.

This book/CD and on-line service can be used as a tool by those
who wish to begin research on prostitution. They will be able to
access information and methodology used by others to assist them in
developing better research strategy. Rather than discourage new
research, such a directory can aid those who wish to do advanced
studies after reviewing the findings of previous studies.